Animal Cruelty Arrest

Posted onDecember 29, 2011

The Schenectady County SPCA has arrested a homeless man they say left four pit bulls in a storage room without any food or water.

SPCA officers were called to a storage facility in Rotterdam after receiving animal cruelty complaints. That’s where they found the four dogs. The storage room was unheated and one of the dogs was bleeding.

The SPCA says the dogs were left there by Frank Burns, 56. Burns told officials he was homeless and had no other place to go with the animals.

As of now, it appears at least two of the dogs will have to be euthanized because they are too aggressive.

According to the SPCA, Schenectady County has an animal housing crisis.

“This not just one man with four animals. This can probably be multiplied by 10 or 50 times. With the bad economy, there is no shelter in Schenectady. People don’t know where to go. Call us, we will help them. More importantly, the leaders in Schenectady have to do something. There has to be shelter for these animals,” said Matthew Tully, Chief Human Law Enforcement Officer of the Schenectady County SPCA.

Burns was arrested and charged with animal cruelty. Officials say he is also facing a year in jail, three years probation and/or a $1,000 fine for leaving the animals in the storage facility without food or water. Burns is also facing a $50 fine for each unlicensed dog that.